global affairs correspondent martha raddatz tells us. >> reporter: president obama made clear today just how important this nomination is for the country. >> my most solemn obligation is the security of the american people. >> reporter: through decades of war and peace, the job of defense secretary has had profound implications. >> if forces to be used, saddam hussein would be removed from power. >> reporter: chuck hagel knows the horrors of war first hand. at 21, a poor kid from nebraska, he volunteered to go to vietnam, fighting side-by-side with his 19-year-old brother, tom. he got two purple hearts. one, when shrapnel ripped open his chest and his brother dragged him to safety. another, a month later, when hagel, himself on fire from a land mine, rescued his brother. >> i was on the left side, where the major blast came up, and i was burned all up and down the left side of my body. so, i grabbed tom first, he was out and he had blood coming out of his ears and nose. and you don't have time to think about, is he dead or alive? >> reporter: but critics are not focusing on hagel's milit
